SWATCH FIVB: One week passed, and they are still the world's best

Photo Gallery>>A day after the Chinese women gained a gold medal victory over an American tandem, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers evened the score here Sunday with the Asian country for the United States by capturing their third-straight SWATCH FIVB World Tour men's title at the US$600,000 Moscow 2008 Grand Slam.

With a 16-21, 21-19 and 15-11 win in 60 minutes over fourth-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu of China, the top-seeded Dalhausser and Rogers avenged Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs' 21-8 and 21-18 setback to Chen Xue and Xi Zhang Saturday for the Moscow 2008 Grand Slam women's title on the Victory Park centre court.

"The Chinese played very well, especially in the first set," said the 34-year old Rogers, who has teamed with Dalhausser to top the qualifying list for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with 5,780 for their best eight finishes on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour since May 2007. Reigning Olympic champions Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos of Brazil are second with 5,500 qualifying points for Beijing.

"I made several errors in the first set and the Chinese's service game was very good," Rogers added. "The second set was close throughout, and we played our best in the third and deciding set. Tiny (Xu) and Peng (Wu) are a real force and we have been fortunate to beat them five times."

With three-straight SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam titles to their credit by also winning in Paris and Norway, Dalhausser and Rogers have won 21-straight matches since losing in three sets to Emanuel and Ricardo June 15 in the Berlin Grand Slam gold medal match. The SWATCH mark for consecutive match wins is 23 set in 1999 by Emanuel and his Sydney 2000 Olympic partner Jose Loiola.

Sunday's win netted the Americans the $43,500 first-place check as Dalhausser and Rogers have reached the podium in nine of their last 10 SWATCH FIVB World Tour starts with four gold medals, including the 2007 SWATCH-FIVB World Championship last July in Gstaad, Switzerland. For the 2008 season, the Americans have won 39 of 43 international matches with $188,000 in winnings. Dalhausser was also named the SWATCH most outstanding player for the Moscow 2008 Grand Slam.

Wu and Xu, who have dropped four gold medal matches this season in an effort to become the first Chinese men's team to win a SWATCH FIVB World Tour title, split $29,500 for second-place. Despite the setback, Wu and Xu moved into the No. 6 Olympic ranking spot with 4,540 points.

If Wu and Xu finish among the top six Beijing qualifying teams for their best eight finishes on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour since the start of the process last year at a Shanghai stop, the host country tandem will be granted the top spot in Olympic pool play seeding. For the season, Wu and Xu have posted a 39-16 mark with $140,100 in winnings

The qualifying for the Beijing 2008 Olympics ends for all SWATCH FIVB World Tour players in France July 15-20 at Marseille. European players can also earn qualifying points from one of their two finishes at the 2007 or 2008 continental championships. Germany hosts this year's European championships this coming week in Hamburg (July 10-13).

In the All-German bronze medal match featuring the European countries Beijing entrants, fifth-seeded David Klemperer and Eric Koreng scored their third-straight SWATCH FIVB World Tour victory over compatriots Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann with a 21-18 and 21-15 victory in 47 minutes. Klemperer and Koreng shared $23,000 for third-place while Brink and Dieckmann shared $18,400 for fourth-place.

With the Germans in the semi-finals Sunday afternoon, Dalhausser and Rogers advanced to the finals with a 21-14, 18-21 and 15-11 win in 57 minutes Brink and Dieckmann. Wu and Xu earned a berth in the finale with a 21-19, 25-27 and 15-13 win over Klemperer and Koreng as the Russian capital was hosting a SWATCH FIVB World Tour stop for the first-time since 1999.

(Credit: FIVB. Click here for further information.)